The Prophecy ( The Replacement Trials #1)

Chapter 2

Aura's POV

It was pretty clear that Nimue was seriously considering this offer and it led me to wonder what happened to make her so determined to succeed. She was wringing her hands and gnawing her bottom lip, sure signs that she was deep in thought. I couldn't blame her; my thoughts were racing through all the possible outcomes to this. There was no way that our lives wouldn't be at risk and there was no telling how many people would know that we were involved in helping beat back whatever the king is so afraid of. But on the other hand, should we both survive, we could be recognized as some of the best paladins in Druvolain. 

They can't expect us to go alone though, right? We'll probably have some form of backup or have some way of contacting other soldiers to come to our aid. If that's the case then I'm not opposed to fighting for the kingdom and as I watch Nimue's eyes flicker around the hall as we walk back to our respective training grounds, as though waiting for a Plague soldier to jump out at any moment to stab her through the back. I can see that she will come to the same conclusion that I did. It's no secret that she thinks things through far more thoroughly than I do so I believe that it will take her longer due to the number of outcomes she has to think about. 

She's thinking about how if she were to die, what would her family do, what would her sisters say at her funeral? Would she even get a funeral? Would her body be recognizable? Who would know that she was a key player in this mission besides me? Would she be an honoured soldier, or would she just be given a small plaque that would sit in the hallway of past paladins here at the Academy? How would she be remembered? Is she the warrior who got a free ride from her parents or will she be known as the warrior who worked to earn her place? Too deep in my own thoughts and worries to care, I left her to her thoughts and picked my way through the fighting rings to get to the sword fighting arena.

"Line up!" I yelled out, gaining the eyes of every trainee in the arena. I could see their knees shake in the fitted uniforms we were all given when we are accepted. It's important that we don't wear flowing clothing when practicing the basics so that we don't get caught up with the material. I was aware of my haggard appearance, having had a nightmare before going to a meeting with the headmaster and finding out that I had to figure out if I wanted to go on a possibly deadly mission by tomorrow morning, but I couldn't worry about that because these sad excuses for paladins were afraid of their own shadows. I'm here to make sure that they're strong enough to survive anything that comes their way and if I teach them all I know, and they still fail their exams then it's their problem not mine. As mentors we give reports of our trainees' progress and when the exam comes, the panel takes that into consideration when they choose who to keep as mentors and who to let go. I should be safe given how detailed my notes are. I may not know they're names but I know all about their fighting styles and the ability they have to listen to instructions.

Watching from the edge of the ring I pick out the weak links and identify the strongest fighters. Pointing at a girl who was looking straight at me, as opposed to the stance of the other students who were currently training their gazes on their boots which couldn't be near as nice to look at as I am, I call her forward. Since she was a part of the first row, I planned to make this exercise pass by row.

"She is going to fight the rest of her row all at once, if she loses her weapon and has nothing else to defend herself, you all run thirty suicides, should she follow my number one rule and disarm someone else you only run ten. I will then pick someone from the second row and the process will repeat until I run out of rows. There's only five lines so you shouldn't have too much trouble with a few suicides if you're at the stamina level you should be. Having me as a mentor should have toughened you up a bit and if it hasn't that means that I need to push you a lot harder than I have been. Understood?" Satisfied with the resulting nods, I give the go ahead by blowing my whistle and pulling my own sword, stabbing it into the ground before leaning on it to watch their technique. Resting my head against my hand I watch, flicking my eyes between the "enemy" and the girl I chose.